A review by dasbooch
The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South by Michael W. Twitty

5.0

The best way to look at this book is seeing it as a memoir that highlights his personal story, that of his family (including those he never met but whose lives he was connected with through story) and a story of a people. This is a style that other memoirs I loved are written in, but he makes it truly unique by using the medium of food to explore his about past, part of the African American experience in the south and how their influence had often been ignored or whitewashed over, both in the culinary world and in general. He thus creates a deeply personal masterpiece. While it can be a bit dense in stories and material, and I am not crazy about the structure of the book, he was very effective in telling his story and illustrating why his story was so important to tell. I look forward to trying the recipes he included as well.